Upper Jaw Surgery with Possible Genioplasty?

[seastarr]

Hey!
So i'm scheduled for surgery in just under two weeks to have my upper jaw mover forward in order to correct my underbite. However, the surgeon has also said that if I want he can 'soften' my chin through a genioplasty, so now I'm trying to decide whether or not I want this done.
Obviously as it is right now my chin sticks out, but he told me that this will be less noticeable once my upper jaw is moved forward (the question being how much less noticeable!).
One concern that I do have is that my chin is quite long from the front, and I'm worried that in moving the chin back it will also end up down a bit making my chin even longer!
I've been asking family and friends for advice but I figured I may as well see what some perfect strangers have to say!
What do you think?

pictures at flickr. com/photos/98116247@N07/9157238984/

[seastarr]

wasn't allowed to post links, so remove the space in flickr. com

[bmueller]

That's a really strong chin, especially for a girl. I'd definitely go for the genio and have a softer more feminine look.

I had the opposite problem, a softer chin, but my surgeon decided during the surgery that if he had done the genio, it would have given me too masculine of a chin. I'm really happy he didn't. My face is very nice and proportional now.

[seastarr]

you don't think that because of the horizontal nature of the cut the genioplasty will make my chin even longer? I agree I could stand to lose some of the projection but I'm not sure how I feel about gaining length as a result

[seastarr]

seastarr wrote:
> you don't think that because of the horizontal nature of the cut the genioplasty
> will make my chin even longer? I agree I could stand to lose some of the projection

*sorry I mean diagonal nature. as in, the fact that it's a sloping cut means that moving the bone section back will result in moving it down as well

[bmueller]

Interesting. I didn't think of that. I would ask the surgeon. He should know what kind of effects it will have in the vertical and if it would look good with your face structure.

[Hollywood Todd]

I personally didn't notice anything about your face that would require surgery, at least as far as aesthetics are concerned.

[darinagaievska]

I think you could benefit from the genio. I am still trying to decide if I should do SG toto get a more defined profile. My surgeon said that my chin retrusion is not huge but that it is still there and that he could perform the surgery. The only problem is that I don't want a masculine look...so I am feeling ambivalent right now :/

[shennalicious]

I have the same issue. We are not doctors, but doesn't that seem logical that the excess bone is going to be just shifted? It is like choosing between a profile and a frontal view.

Anyway, please update us on what you decide or if your doctor sheds any light on this. Reductions seem impossible to find pictures of on the internet for some reason.

Good luck! And by the way, your chin isn't projecting forward like the letter "C" so I think you would (and do) look very nice anyway.

[seastarr]

Update:
I thought I'd come back and post some more photos and share my experience for those pre-surgery people who are browsing these message boards for information about jaw surgery (like I did!). When I was researching I found posts with pictures particularly helpful, because it's pretty hard to make a decision on a surgery that is going to affect how you look for the rest of your life, not knowing how it will change your face!
As you can tell from the above posts I was trying to decide between upper jaw advancement with or without a reverse sliding genioplasty. It was a difficult decision but in the end I went with just the upper jaw for a couple of different reasons. Some of these were that I didn't want too much change to my face, that I didn't want a more complicated surgery and that because it wasn't a procedure that was necessary it felt more like plastic surgery than actual dental work and I didn't really want that. Obviously my chin is still a bit big but I'm glad I made the decision that I did (and anyways, I think very few people can look at their own face and not notice at least a little room for improvement--self consciousness seems to be human nature!)
The surgery was really not a big deal, I had a little bruising and some swelling but was not wired together after, just wearing elastics with a splint which came out after two weeks. I was on a full liquid diet for the two weeks and did end up losing about 10 pounds, (and felt pretty tired most of the time because of the lack of calories) but it was honestly pretty enjoyable being able to drink milkshakes for breakfast lunch and dinner. After four weeks I was eating almost normally, but still mainly soft foods and after six I was fully back to normal.
I got my braces off five months after and am now in an essix retainer 24/7 for the next few months before progressing to only at night.
So I guess you can say it's been a success for everyone (except for my wallet!)

But anyways, to get to the main purpose of this post, here are some before/after photos of my jaw. Hope these help in your surgery decisions if you have any to make!
Feel free to post any questions about the surgery!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98116247@N07/11653351115/

[Anastasia8]

Wow, what a pretty result, so natural too like you were born that way. You must be thrilled!

Do you know what your measurements were, how many mms was your upper advanced? Your chin actually smaller now despite not having the genio.

[seastarr]

sorry I'm not sure. next time I see my ortho, I'll try and remember to ask though!

[vincent168]

Wow looks, great well done. I also think that you should take one step at a time with these surgeries, the advantage ofmcourse is to get it all over and done with and heal in one go back I guess you never know if you are satisfied with one change already before moving onto the next, then of course you can choose to have the next surgery if needed. I guess its a bit of a gamble and waste if you end up opting out but its better to be safe ten sorry.

I have a few questions as I have a mild underbite and quite curious what my surgery option are. Did the surgery straight out just offer the upper jaw surgery to you as the only option? Or did they give y another option of doublr jaw surgery?
I suspect maybe because your underbite isnt too bad you can just have the upper jaw, but why not only the lower jaw did he say?